Here’s a band that should’ve gotten some of the drooling praise that was slathered upon the similarly guitar-drenched music of Longwave. Then again, hype like that is never good for any artist, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that this Los Angeles four-piece can get the credit it deserves without…
It’s always exciting when a world-class DJ hits the ‘Nix for the first time; it does our egos good and quashes a bit of our desert metropolis’ inferiority complex. So clap your hands and say “yeah” for this Saturday’s inaugural appearance by U.K. producer and DJ BK, a.k.a. Ben Keen,…
The evolution of Breakestra has been an auspicious journey of funk and feeling. Bandleader Miles Tackett has reserved his place in the Los Angeles mind as leader of the weekly Rootdown party, a hangout for conscious and breakthrough hip-hop/soul/funk mavens. His band started by playing covers of soul classics, eventually…
Poor man’s Shins no more, California’s Rogue Wave moves past the dwarfish indie rock that defined its debut into grand, 70mm glory on its second record. You can tell right away, when the giant chorus blows up big in the center of “Bird on a Wire”, with elephant-size drums stomping…
Please welcome tonight’s three contestants for accolades, riches and fame. From Los Gatos, CA, we have Dredg, whose meandering, oceanic compositions hint of ballad-oriented modern rock. The guitars swirl while singer/guitarist Gavin Hayes croons and swoons over the top like Matchbox Twenty covering Oasis. The band’s third release for Interscope,…
Born out of the blues revival of the early ’60s, John Hammond Jr. has defied stereotypes from Day One. You know, like when he said he wanted to play the blues and someone sharply replied, “Boy, you white.” Then came Day Two, when someone else said, “Boy, you from the…
Thursday 20 Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with AKA (gothic, industrial) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Dos Gringos — Scottsdale: Block Party with DJ Sterling (all genres) e4: “Eve” Ladies’ Night…
1. Dangerdoom, The Mouse and the Mask (Epitaph) 2. Story of the Year, In the Wake of Determination (Maverick) 3. O.A.R. , Stories of a Stranger (Lava) 4. Explosions in the Sky, How Strange, Innocence (Temporary Residence) 5. Atmosphere, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having (Rhymesayers) 6. Jimmy…
“If you see us again, we will definitely be doing it for the money,” announced Tom Reardon, bass player and vocalist for Hillbilly Devilspeak, in a recent press release. After more than 11 years of playing shows, Reardon’s killing off the band that’s been his primary artistic endeavor, at least…
The other day I happened, to my great surprise, to walk by a cheerleading camp, a small army of kids with words like “TIGERS” emblazoned across their trim, peppy asses. Sometimes I forget that real, nonironic cheerleaders, who are very serious about what they do, exist — and not just…
If you were a Phoenician and a Beatlemaniac between 1964 and 1966, you had your choice of venues to see the Fab Four: the Convention Center in Las Vegas, the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, the Cow Palace in San Francisco, or the Hollywood Bowl. But John, Paul, George and…
When the Bravery followed its ballyhooed South by Southwest appearance with the release of its debut disc, the backlash began. Wise witnesses saw hacks cashing in on a hip sound. But the group’s detractors were so vitriolic that some misguided souls made appeals on the band’s behalf, creating Bravery-backlash backlash…
With caterwaulin’ wanna-beasts everywhere you look, it’s hard to know where real hardcore ends and mainstream screaming begins. But judging by the ear-shredding received after one application of Art Damage, the second album from this scrawny Aurora, Colorado, foursome, these guys are the for-real deal. They’ve got the growl call-and-response…
Iron and Wine isn’t an “it,” but a “he” — one Samuel Beam, a Floridian who was discovered by Sub Pop via his introverted lo-fi bedroom tapes. His beautifully calm, almost whispered music was widely heard in the film Garden State alongside Nick Drake, which makes Beam a shoo-in for…
Smokin’ Joe Kubek sure lives up to his moniker, and not because this wild-haired, tattooed, guitar-slinging mountain of a man is often seen clutching a coffin nail in his meaty paw. Instead, the towering Dallas-based axeman regularly sets audiences ablaze with his blistering and bluesy guitar stylings, picking and pulling…
If you end a sentence containing the phrase “Asian American hip-hopper” with a question mark, you probably haven’t heard of Tom Shimura, formerly known as Asia Born, now known as Lyrics Born. He started rapping in the Bay Area, but when he could find no takers for his music, he…
Vaguely folky, kinda psychedelic, slightly jammy, and decidedly challenging, Animal Collective makes records that are impenetrable on first listen. Though its profile raised with last year’s Sung Tongs, the band’s higher visibility hasn’t blunted its musical meanderings. But while Feels succeeds at being sonically enigmatic, patient ears will discover that…
Lawless Element is an odd combo, a mixed-up mash-up of old-school posturing and neo-futurist neon tubing. Instead of rat-a-tat drum machines or screwed-up soul samples, the band lays conversational rhymes over icy, pulsing electronics and a bass boom bigger and deeper and colder than a black hole. It’s sonic schizophrenia…
The headline on the Franz Ferdinand feature in the July 30 NME reads: “Our New Album? It’s Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard!” Well, no. In truth, Better sounds like plenty you’ve heard, either during the early ’80s or in the year-plus since the Scottish band’s debut hit these shores. Strangely,…
Teetering between corny and classic, Junior Brown bangs out a set of Americana-tinged fare that features his acclaimed double-necked plucking and baritone crooning. Bottling the essence of Tex-Mex, Western swing and even surf music (an instrumental jog through the Johnny Rivers classic “Secret Agent Man”), Junior swerves through a varied…
Hot Pink!, the long-reigning queen of the glam-dance scene, seems like it ought to have petered out. Instead, even with founder DJ Nimh spending most of his time in NYC, Hot Pink! continues to evolve and keep all the pretty sparkly kids showing up to shimmy. This Friday, October 14,…
All hail X, the band that has somehow remained un-embarrassing as it ages, a most difficult task for punk rockers. Just look to their contemporaries the Germs to witness how sad punk rock has become. Despite the 1980 death of singer Darby Crash, the remaining members of the band want…
